“Smacking” Children?

I recently read an online article on child discipline in which the author repeatedly used the word “smacking” in place of “spanking.” The article even contained a poll that asked the question, “Have you ever smacked your children?” The term “smacking” is a loaded and prejudicial term and I strongly suspect that the author knows this. The dictionary defines “smack” as a “sharp slap, or blow.” The secondary dictionary entry is “the loud sharp sound made by such a blow.” Thus the word “smack” has a far more negative connotation than does the word “spank.”

The writer alleged that “smacking” children punishes the parents more than the children. She repeated the feeble and failed arguments of the past that “smacking” children makes children “aggressive” and is “counter-productive” to their development. She said that “smacking” children promotes aggressive behavior, and causes them to “smack” others when they are upset with them. Before condemning corporal punishment, perhaps the anti-”smacking” crowd should consider the dangerous degree of ethical and moral breakdown that exists among many of today’s youths. It is, in fact, the lack of substantive forms of discipline that has created the near anarchic conditions that exist in our society today.

Bible believers have a higher and more reliable standard than the fluctuating findings of sociologists. Parents are to bring up their children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). This discipline may take various forms, but it should not exclude spanking. Solomon said, “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of chastisement shall drive it far from him” (Prov. 22:15). Some people shy away from Old Testament passages that speak of the use of a “rod” in disciplining children, for they immediately think of child abuse. No such conclusion can be drawn, for God nowhere sanctions child abuse. While the Hebrew word for “rod” (shebet) can refer to a “staff” or “scepter,” it can also mean “stick” or limb. Solomon obviously did not mean “club” by this word, for he also said, “Do not withhold discipline from a child; for if you punish him with a rod he shall not die. Punish him with a rod and save his soul from death” (Prov. 23:13, 14). Conscientious parents will take great care to avoid injuring their children when administering discipline. Child discipline can be properly administered only by those who are themselves disciplined. Parents who physically abuse their children should themselves be punished (Exodus 21:23-25), but the general rule and practice of spanking should not be banished just because some parents are careless and cruel.